Lewis: Woe is the football widow

Right at home

Posted: Monday, October 27, 2003

It's that time of year. Actually, it's been that time of year for weeks now, it's just that now's the time it begins to take its toll - when ''to do'' lists grow ever longer and I'm forced to appreciate single parenthood.

It's the middle of football season and I'm a football widow in the truest sense ... married to (or widowed by) a football coach. If you run-of-the-mill football widows think you have it bad, I'm here to tell you to count your blessings and remind you that at least you have the option of ''accidentally'' cutting the cable to your house.

Don't get me wrong, I love football. I was trading Bob Griese cards with my older brother when I was 4 years old. I'm just ready to have my husband, and more importantly, the father of my child, home for dinner and available on the weekends with no temptation of watching further ball games on the tube.

This recent baseball hullabaloo isn't helping matters. Geoff, who of late's been putting in 16-hour days, actually has stayed up to watch this stuff (which, of course, cuts into the deep and meaningful discussions we usually have in the evenings). Unless we're talking T-ball, I cannot tolerate baseball as a spectator. I'll be a pinch hitter any day, but to sit through a baseball game, especially one on TV, ranks right up there with cleaning someone else's toilet, though worse, since baseball games are infinitely longer.

Lisa

Lewis

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Part of the agony is watching those egotistical players spitting and adjusting themselves before and after every attempt at a hit - yet another reason why the game is direly in need of a time clock. Certainly, pro football players are no less self-centered, but at least their smug faces are hidden by helmets.

This game-watching on television is not the norm at our house, thank heavens. Call me crazy, but it's somehow easier to tolerate my husband's absence when he's working toward a worthy goal, as opposed to just parking it in front of the TV set for the entirety of autumn. Though for all I know he and the rest of the coaching staff could be sitting around watching the World Series at this very moment.